Current Pharm Students, need Ur Opinion

[henderson]

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I need current pharm students' opinions.

I had a traumatic event in the initial stage of undergraduate years. It deeply affected me and thus the grades for several years. ( I received F's for several semesters which doesn't really reflect my academic ability but I know that pharm committe probably wouldn't care to see beyond the letter grades).

I don't want to really disclose the event but I have no other way of explaining those grades...and I DO really want to become a pharmacist. I have received mostly A's and B's in the latter years of undergrad for science pre-requisites.

Shall I give up?...what shall I do?

 

[bananaface]

If your prerequisite grades are high, they should give you a chance. However, they will probably want you to mention in your application that you had to get over a traumatic event in your personal life before your grades could go up. If your grades have been up for a long time, you might be able to get away without disclosing the event details at all. If it hasn't been more than a couple of years, they will probably ask you to disclose it. If it is something that makes you so uncomfortable that you are considering not applying because you don't want it to talk about it during the application process, I would urge you to apply and request in your application that if the school needs you to go into specifics that they arrange for you to talk alone to one member of the admissions committee instead of having to disclose it in a group interview situation. There is generally an area of the application where you can list additional considerations.

 

[kwakster928]

herderson,

I had a similar situation as yours. I had some family issues and my grades suffered during my freshman and sophomore year. I had a D in organic. but later i got myself toghether and did well on other classes. even though my accum GPA was not the best, thanks to horrible freshman and sophomore gpas, but i was manage to get it about 3.2 which barely met Temple's interview minimum. But i believe most of the phamacy school only considers your GPA on pre-reqs. I do not think they look everything. good thing is that there are many other ways you can make yourself shine. you can show your pure enthusiasm and your love and passion about becoming a phamacist in your essay, and if your grades has been solid since your tragic years, then you show the commitee that you are capable and make yourself strong applicant since it will show them you pull yourself together after such an event. Also there is PCAT if you score well on PCAT i doubt anyone will question your ability as a student. Plus i do not think there is anything to lose here besides some money. you never know what is going to happen but at least try. if you think your grades are lil lower than others study hard for PCAT and take some time writing your essay. it is how you present it. try to think about how you can convince others that why you can be a good phamacist. just sensing from your words, i think you will be a great phamacist. and NEVER EVER NEVER EVER EVER EVER NEVER NEVER GIVE UP! good luck

 

[Glycerin]

I need current pharm students' opinions.

I had a traumatic event in the initial stage of undergraduate years. It deeply affected me and thus the grades for several years. ( I received F's for several semesters which doesn't really reflect my academic ability but I know that pharm committe probably wouldn't care to see beyond the letter grades).

I don't want to really disclose the event but I have no other way of explaining those grades...and I DO really want to become a pharmacist. I have received mostly A's and B's in the latter years of undergrad for science pre-requisites.

Shall I give up?...what shall I do?

Not to discourage you, but I had a similar situation and applied to 6 pharmacy schools and was rejected. The only thing you can do is to not give up. Retake classes in which you scored poorly and take upper-level science courses to show that you can do the work. Try your hardest to make A's in everything, as this will be what will bring your GPA up the most. Also, it may help to have a BA or BS, but it's not absolutely necessary.

I would include the event in your personal statement. Anything that will help to explain why you made F's can only help you. Good luck.

 

[henderson]

for the kind and encouraging words.

I will do my best and leave the rest to one above. I will keep you guys posted!

 

[VCU07]

I agree with the previous post...you should def. retake those classes that you did poorly in. Unfortunatly, pharmacy school is becoming more and more difficult to get into b/c of the high number of applicants. When I applied a few yrs back there were around 600 applicants, this yr there were over 1000. Also, pharmacy schools look for a well rounded person, not a person who just knows science. This may explain the increasing number of accepted students who are of nonscience backgrounds. So, dont give up...retake those classes and take a few extra to raise your GPA. Also, do well on the PCAT and your in. Good luck!

 

[Leah27]

ug. I just got off teh phone with U buffalo. I applied with a 3.26, a 97 on the PCAT to 5 schools and got in nowhere. The admissions secretary lady told this sad story about some kid with all D's who wanted to go to law school and got in because he had money. I guess she was telling me I have no shot in hell at pharmacy school because.... A, I have no money, and B, she's equating me to some kid with all D's????????????? and law school???????????????? Yeah, she suggested I take calc II again at some 4 year school (Because they look at where the grades come from... which they obviously don't if they didn't consider where my degree came from) or take teh PCAT again because math was by far my lowest score (never mind the 97 overall).... oh yeah and my letters of rec were tacetum (some big fancy word for "blah") It is a total crap shoot getting in to pharmacy school. If you can afford to take classes over then do it. If you can't, then apply to law school... i guess thats the moral of the story.

 

[henderson]

Leah27,

That is scary...🙁

Will you try applying next year again? Any positive stories from people with low gpas who got in? please???? anybody?...somebody?

 

[henderson]

By the way, which five schools did you apply to if you don't mind me asking?..

 

[kwakster928]

holy smokes leah that's unbealiable.... henderson if this makes u feel better i had a simliar gpa as leah .01 lower and 90 pcat. but i did get into temple. but i had a degree. i think having a degree helps a lot. if you are not in too much of rush, i would wait till you have a degree and try it then. but again, there is nothing to lose. u never know until you acutually do it.

 

[henderson]

I don't know if having a B.A. in English helps any for applying to pharmacy school. It would definitely be better to have a science degree but that's what I have...an English degree.

 

[kwakster928]

that i dont know. only thing i know is that when i went to temple interview one of the lady at the admission told me that 70 percent of the temple entering class have degree already. b.a. in english, you must be a good writer then. write good essay and do well on pcat and hope for the best. what exactly do you have, gpa, pcat score etc... if you dont mind sharing.

 

[henderson]

I am not quite sure how to calculate the science gpa for the repeats, but I think around 3.4 or lower. But I have an overall gpa of 3.2 from the university and 3.9 something from CC(mostly easy courses). What I am worried about are the years when I had F's(I think eight total over several semesters). This would automatically be a sign to the selection committie that this applicant goes to a reject file unless they take the time to read the personal statement, even then, they could not care less about my situtaion.

I wish I didn't do what I did if I knew what I know now.

 

[gkiley1]

I'm also curious Leah27. What schools did you apply to? Did you interview at any of them?

 

[kwakster928]

henderson,

I think you have a good chance. just explain yourself very well why you had those situations. i think at least for temple and all the schools that i applied to took the higher gpa, but pharmcas might do it differently. you should apply early and soon. because it seem like phamacy school is getting harder and harder to get in. doubling number of application each year. and wish that they will read your essay and i am sure you do. if you get invited for an interview, dont screw it up. good luck. i am sorry that i can not be anymore help than this.

 

[Leah27]

kwankster... i also have a degree in Neuroscience from a real good research university in upstate NY......... I applied to UOP, U maryland, U buffalo, Albany College of Pharmacy, and Drake... i'm taking public speaking at a community college this summer so I can apply to 9 schools for next year... best of luck to all of you.. and any hints or suggests for me are appreciated!

 

[gdk420]

1.) Apply early in the process. Applying late gives u a limited chance of getting an interview since there will be few interview spots available.

2.) Get more experience. Experience is key. I know USC is big on experience.Experience makes up for a borderline gpa.

3.) Apply to more private schools. Public schools are hard to get into unless u are resident of that state.

5.) Get a letter of rec from someone who can say something about u that they can't see on ur transcripts. I can always see u are bright, but what other characteristics that I can't see with grades that will make u a great pharmacist?

6.) Inflate that gpa with more easy classes.

 

[Roxicet]

henderson, I pm'd you. 🙂

 

[afrikankoffee]

Good advice gdk!
You guys please don't give up.
There is a lot of truth in applying to private institutions. Some public institutions e.g. Oklahoma claim to be considerate of out of state applicants, but when I called just before mailing my application last year, the asst. dean told me point blank, "in the history of this school we have never accepted an international student and out of state residents have to have some connection to Oklahoma, regardless of your grades, so i would advise you to save your money and apply elsewhere."

Apply early, I dont think this can be stressed enough. I'm seeing people with 3.0 GPA's getting into pharmacy school.
Try to apply to as many schools as you can, it takes just one school to accept you.
Leah, your case IS truly scary. Buffalo, Maryland and Albany also rejected me. What's funny about MD is that I had an interview with them when I first applied last year and was put on the waiting list. This year I didn't even make the interview list.

Anyway, a breadth of experience and some contact with the school prior to application never hurts. It's pretty incredible how competitive getting in is becoming.

 

[Leah27]

Thats a good idea I think.... calling schools to see if you have a chance in applying. I did that at buffalo though and the stupid bimbo just said, "well, you don't have any chance if you don't apply"